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4 In late 1870, almost concurrently with the troubles in Madison and Hill counties , along with the controversy over Captain Jack Helm, the murder of an elderly black man in Walker County forced Governor E. J. Davis to declare martial law in that county. A similar set of circumstances faced Davis in Hill and Walker counties as citizens rebelled at the presence of the State Police. When the police attempted to apprehend the murderers, they were stymied by the interference of residents. After a Walker County grand jury no-billed the culprits accused of slaying a Huntsville freedman, a district judge later arraigned them before his court. This attempt to ensure justice resulted in a shoot-out in his courtroom. No one was killed, but the confrontation further polarized the citizens against the administration of Governor Davis. As Davis proclaimed martial law and prepared to dispatch troops into Walker County, he stated that a black man had been “foully murdered” and described the altercation in Burnett’s courtroom as a “high handed act.” The incident had no parallel in “any country where the English language is spoken ” for “overbearing lawlessness.” Davis asserted that the citizens deprecated the violence, but they all “stood by supinely, or actively aided the attack upon the judge and officers of the law” while the latter “engaged in the exercise of their legitimate authority and sworn duty.” The governor regretted that the people of Texas “do not see that it is [in] their true interest, without regard to the question of duty, to put a stop to such lawlessness.”1 “The Dark Rece<

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